Murder Weapon Statistics

Statistic Verification

Source: Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Uniform Crime Reports for the U.S.

Research Date: March 30th, 2015

One can only speculate what goes through the mind of a murderer when choosing their weapon of devastation. The most obvious conclusion might be accessibility of the specific weapon, but that theory only holds up for premeditated murders. In any case, the numbers below show a broad range of chosen weapons. In the future we may want to design all objects using nerf foam. Questions: What is the most commonly used murder weapon? What percent of murders involved guns? How many murders were committed with knives? What murder weapon is used the most? Murder weapon use statistics.

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Murder by Weapons Used

Year

Murder Victims

Guns

Percent

Knife

Blunt Object

Strangulation, Hands, Fists, Etc

Arson

Other

2014

13,853

9,603

69 %

1,722

573

849

96

1,010

2013

14,196

9,895

69 %

1,684

541

733

84

1,259

2012

14,856

9,789

63 %

1,838

692

1,198

93

2,246

2011

14,661

8,847

58 %

1,730

737

1,093

83

2,171

2010

14,722

8,975

59 %

1,904

740

1,245

74

1,784

2009

13,636

9,146

67 %

1,825

641

801

92

1,131

2008

14,299

9,484

66.3

1,897

614

949

86

993

2007

14,831

10,086

68.0

1,796

647

854

130

1,016

2006

14,990

10,177

67.9

1,822

607

833

115

1,128

2002

14,263

9,528

66.7

1,776

681

954

103

874

1997

15,289

10,369

67.8

1,963

702

1,187

134

934

1996

15,848

10,744

67.8

2,142

733

1,182

151

726

1995

20,232

13,790

68.2

2,557

918

1,438

166

968

1994

22,084

15,463

70.0

2,802

912

1,452

196

1,079

1993

23,180

16,136

69.6

2,967

1,022

1,482

217

1,168

1992

22,716

15,489

68.2

3,296

1,040

1,445

203

1,043

1991

21,676

14,373

66.3

3,430

1,099

1,529

195

847

1990

20,045

12,847

64.1

3,503

1,075

1,424

287

909

1985

17,545

10,296

58.7

3,694

972

1,491

243

849

1980

21,860

13,650

62.0

4,212

1,094

1,666

291

947

1975

18,642

12,061

64.7

3,245

1,001

1,646

193

496

1970

13,649

9,039

66.2

2,424

604

1,031

353

198

1965

8,773

5,015

57.2%

2,021

505

894

226

112

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